Criticism on the Christie's London Impressionist/Modern Sale

Souren Melikian in the NY Times comments rather harshly on Tuesday evenings Impressionist/Modern sale held at Christie's. See today's earlier post for sale information and details. Melikian states the sale had few desirable offerings, those that were of interest, sold well,the others did not fair very well at the sale. Also, there were several paintings offered that had previously been offered and not sold, or as Melikian states, "regurgitated" offerings. Many experts believe the market has hit bottom, and that is possible, as this reviewer indicates the failure of the sale to consistently produce value was because of the poor selection of the lots offered and not necessarily market conditions.

Melikian states In Christie’s traditional early summer sale of Impressionist and Modern art held on Tuesday, desirable paintings were scarce. A desperate effort to pad the catalog with a sufficiently large number of works led to the inclusion of some mediocrities that never stood much chance to pull through. Inevitably eight of the 42 works that came on the block crashed unsold. Things could have been a lot worse if bidders had not been as ready as ever to pounce on any works, even modest ones, worth fighting over.

Melikian continues So what was wrong with the auction Tuesday? First, too many works were being regurgitated after having made a recent appearance in the market. Egon Schiele’s drawing of a woman seated naked done in 1914 was seen at Christie’s New York on May 9, 2007, when it had cost the consignor the equivalent of £782,000. This time no one wanted it. Next came one of von Jawlensky’s near abstract renditions of a human face done in the early 1920s. This had been bought by the consignor for £264,000 on June 18, 2007, at Christie’s London. The Jawlensky too was left unwanted.

And, continues A bigger problem on Tuesday was the excessive number of indifferent, drab works that will no longer sell like hot cakes now that the newcomers to the art market with money burning their fingers have receded into the background. Crass mediocrities managed to pull through only when the auctioneer was willing to let them go far below the lower end of the estimate.

To read the full review, click HERE.